Voter Confidence Vital To Democracy

Of all the ill-advised and amateurish statements that have come from the regime in Tallahassee, could anything top the attack on a coalition of voting reform groups? The coalition urged the governor to find funding for an independent audit of Florida voting systems to test for problems and address any that are uncovered before Election Day.

The governor's spokesperson responded by attacking the group, which includes the Miami-Dade Chapter of the League of Women Voters and the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, saying its "goal it is to undermine voter confidence."

Contrast Gov. Bush's response to that of federal officials who responded, ironically the very same day, to a report by the Brennan Center for Justice and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights that recommends steps state election officials should take to ensure that touch-screen voting machines perform accurately and merit voter confidence.

The chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission said he would study ways to incorporate the report's recommendations into the work of the commission. It is the resistance by Florida officials to thorough auditing of voting systems that has increased cynicism in the elections process -- not our alerting public officials to the need for such audits.

Democracy depends upon confidence in the electoral process. Mere assertions by state officials that everything is OK do not restore voter confidence.